The Association Between Adolescents’ Perceived Negative Treatment by Teachers and Peers on School Victimization

Abstract

Drawing data from the National Education Longitudinal Study, we examine whether adolescents’ perceived teacher and peer negative treatment (being put down by teachers in the classroom and being perceived as a troublemaker by peers) increase the risk of school-based crime (property and personal victimization). We also investigate whether negative teacher and peer treatment conditions the effects of race (African American) and ethnicity (Latino) on property and personal victimization. We found teacher negative treatment was significantly related to property and personal victimization even after controlling for other relevant factors. Moreover, teacher negative treatment affected property victimization among African American students while peer negative treatment had an impact on personal victimization among White students. The implications of our findings are discussed.